The Post Office
So I had to stop by the post office this morning on the way to work to get something sent via Certified Mail. I walk in the door of the Martin Luther King Jr branch at 1400 L St NW, and the first thing that I notice (given that I'm an "Eskimo") is that it's at least 85 degrees inside and a line of about 12 people. The last two times I stopped at this same post office for something, I ended up turning around because of the ridiculous line. However, the last time I left, I had waited a few minutes before giving up and then ended up waiting in another line in a different (yet more pleasant) post office further away.
Anyway, I decide to wait it out this time since I won't have another good opportunity to go elsewhere during normal business hours, but I'm already breaking a sweat in my suit. I take off my suit jacket and loosen my tie, but I cannot even stand still without fanning myself with my soon-to-be-mailed letter. There appear to be 3 people working as I peek around to the front of the line, but only one of them is doing anything, so only 1 of the 3 clerk windows is open.
30 minutes later...
...I make it to the front of the line. They just opened up a second window for the person in front of me. I overhear the customer speaking broken English say that she has something that is being sent overseas, and she currently have a 75-cent stamp. The worker says that it will cost 90 cents to mail, and the woman seems to be confused about what she needs to do. The post office worker pulls out a sheet of paper and a pen, begins to scribble something on the paper, and after literally 10-15 seconds of calculations, tells the woman that she needs to add another 15 cents of postage.
I make my experience with the same post office worker as quick as possible trying to avoid any unnecessary calculations, and after my 30 minutes of waiting in the sauna and 1.5 minutes of being helped, I finally leave noticing that the other window that had now been open is now vacant, and the line has grown to about 18-20 people as I walk out the door.
Anyway, I decide to wait it out this time since I won't have another good opportunity to go elsewhere during normal business hours, but I'm already breaking a sweat in my suit. I take off my suit jacket and loosen my tie, but I cannot even stand still without fanning myself with my soon-to-be-mailed letter. There appear to be 3 people working as I peek around to the front of the line, but only one of them is doing anything, so only 1 of the 3 clerk windows is open.
30 minutes later...
...I make it to the front of the line. They just opened up a second window for the person in front of me. I overhear the customer speaking broken English say that she has something that is being sent overseas, and she currently have a 75-cent stamp. The worker says that it will cost 90 cents to mail, and the woman seems to be confused about what she needs to do. The post office worker pulls out a sheet of paper and a pen, begins to scribble something on the paper, and after literally 10-15 seconds of calculations, tells the woman that she needs to add another 15 cents of postage.
I make my experience with the same post office worker as quick as possible trying to avoid any unnecessary calculations, and after my 30 minutes of waiting in the sauna and 1.5 minutes of being helped, I finally leave noticing that the other window that had now been open is now vacant, and the line has grown to about 18-20 people as I walk out the door.
